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Anne Speckhard (Georgetown): The Lethal Cocktail of Terrorism: The Four Necessary Ingredients that Go into Making a Terrorist and Fifty Individual Vulnerabilities/Motivations that May also Play a Role. William McCants on how terrorists convince themselves to kill: Jihadist culture is exceptionally good at decreasing empathy for outsiders, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. ISIS accomplice of “Jihadi John” named as “quiet and humble” Londoner. Behind the black flag: C.J. Chivers on the recruitment of an ISIS killer. You need recommendations and a guarantor to join ISIS, according to leaked documents. Take the Islamic State prospective militant questionnaire. Sebastian Meyer: “ISIS kidnapped my best friend. But when I met its fighters, I couldn’t hate them. Its young men were lost souls coerced or duped into service.”

James Surowiecki on the campaign of magical thinking: We’ve now had thirty-five years of Republican candidates promising tax cuts, spending discipline, and balanced budgets, without ever delivering — why haven’t voters woken up to this? Alyssa Rosenberg interviews Matt K. Lewis, author of Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections (and How It Can Reclaim Its Conservative Roots).